A few notes on this first weekend of spring:
~France goes to the polls tomorrow. Marine Le Pen was excluded by the French Government from the #JeSuisCharlie rally in favor of less controversial figures like, er, Mahmoud Abbas and President Erdoğan. But, when all the unlikely free-speech opportunists bleating that “the pen is mightier than the sword” have faded away, it may be that the biggest beneficiary of the post-Charlie Hebdo environment will be Mme Le Pen’s Front National:
“She’s my queen!” gushes Patricia, waiting for the arrival of Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front.
“Marine represents everything the people of France want. I don’t know what to say – she’s wonderful, magnificent…”
The political momentum is firmly behind the National Front (FN) whose anti-immigration and anti-EU platform saw it take first place in European elections and win control of 11 town halls last year.
It is again topping polls ahead of Sunday’s vote.
The Picardy countryside is a picturesque but barren stretch of territory with little to offer its young people, making it an ideal recruiting ground for the FN which is polling over 40 percent across much of the region.
Not everyone is as happy as Patricia, though:
Back at the Noyon community hall, some wait to greet Le Pen with shouts of “fascist”.
“Even if she hides it behind her beautiful blonde hair, there are neo-Nazi ideas underneath,” said one of the protesters, 47-year-old Pierre, who declined to give his last name.
“After she’s kicked out the immigrants, it’s us who will be next – the people who think.”